Garver agrees to 2-year deal with Mariners

The Mariners saved some holiday shopping for the last minute when agreeing to a two-year deal with veteran free agent Mitch Garver, which the club announced on Thursday.

The deal includes a mutual option for 2026, and sources told MLB.com's Daniel Kramer that it is worth $24 million.

Garver, who turns 33 on Jan. 15, represents the first notable addition to the roster amid an offseason that’s seen significant turnover due to a direction from the front office to emphasize a more contact-prone offense -- and more notably, needing to free up money to do so.

A righty bat who was primarily a catcher early in his career but battled injuries, Garver is viewed by the Mariners as their primary designated hitter going forward, with the opportunity to back up Cal Raleigh behind the plate. In the little time he saw at catcher in 2023, Garver graded poorly behind the plate with a pop time in the 18th percentile and two blocks below average.

Seattle also added Seby Zavala from Arizona to their catching contingent in the trade that sent Eugenio Suárez to the D-backs last month, and a trade with Tampa Bay for Minor Leaguer Blake Hunt on Nov. 6 should fortify their depth at the position for 2024, an area that had far more uncertainty entering the winter. They also saw veteran Tom Murphy agree to a two-year, $8.25 million deal with the Giants on Saturday, thus ending his chance at a return.

Garver was in essentially the same role last year for the World Series champion Rangers, serving as a subordinate to All-Star Jonah Heim at catcher throughout the year and as the exclusive DH for the club’s playoff run, during which he hit .226/.317/.434 (.751 OPS) with three homers in 60 plate appearances, including the go-ahead, seventh-inning single in Game 5 of the Fall Classic.

In the regular season, Garver slashed .270/.370/.500 (.870 OPS) with 19 homers across 87 games, including 28 at catcher and 57 at DH. He missed nearly two months with a left knee sprain shortly after Opening Day, on the heels of needing season-ending right forearm flexor tendon surgery in July 2022. For his seven-year career, which also included five seasons with the Twins, Garver’s career high in games played is 102, back in 2018, which in itself represents some risk.

Garver had his best season with the Twins in 2019, posting 31 homers and a .995 OPS to win the AL Silver Slugger Award at catcher. While his career 25.6% K rate is a little high for a Mariners team that’s explicitly removed its most strikeout-prone hitters, some underlying metrics suggest that he’s among the game’s more disciplined hitters, with a 17.4% chase rate last year that ranked in the 98th percentile, per Statcast, while his 12.8% walk rate was in the 90th percentile.

Garver’s deal with the Mariners marks a huge pay raise from the $3.9 million he earned last year and the $10,232,500 he’s earned for his career.

It’s also the first multiyear deal for a free-agent hitter that Seattle has reached under president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, who arrived in the 2015-16 offseason, and the cost and length of Garver’s contract should allow them to continue to make at least one or two more offensive additions. Sunday’s acquisition presumably takes them out of the market for sluggers Jorge Soler and J.D. Martinez, but they still have notable needs in the corner outfield and wiggle room with a payroll that now sits around $130 million to go fill them.